5 ms·

there is still a lot of cash on site due to the presence of an ATM though, and in the cash registers. the primary problem is that weed shops are incredibly attr

there is still a lot of cash on site due to the presence of an ATM though, and in the cash registers. the primary problem is that weed shops are incredibly attractive robbery targets due to being one of the few businesses in 2024 that handle large amounts of cash.

CydeWeys 3y ago
I think the ATM isn't actually dispensing cash. You're doing an ATM transaction for a certain amount of money, but what you're actually getting is weed. It's not just "You can buy with cash, and we conveniently have an ATM available to get cash if you didn't go to your bank."
- mikestew 3y ago
  It's not just "You can buy with cash, and we conveniently have an ATM available to get cash if you didn't go to your bank." I have heard from a very reliable source that the ATMs in most weed shops on the Eastside of Seattle dispense cash because you're going to be required to pay with cash at the counter. There are allegedly a few exceptions, but the majority of shops accept only cash and the ATM dispenses bills.
  - hughesjj 3y ago
    Out of the 15+ SWIM has been to in WA state, SWIM has never seen a dispensary take anything but physical cash (bills and coins).
- 14u2c 3y ago
  Nope, it's just a regular ATM operated by a 3rd party company. You get cash from it then give them the cash. The store will also often reimburse for the ATM fee.
  - CydeWeys 3y ago
    Nope, see other comments. My interpretation is correct.
filoleg 3y ago
Often enough, it isn’t an actual ATM. You pay at the counter like you usually would using a card or an NFC payment method (e.g., Apple Pay), but the payment reader processes it as an ATM withdrawal transaction (hence an extra transaction fee of a few dollars). There is no physical cash involved at any point in this (at least not on the dispensary premises).
- BobaFloutist 3y ago
  Sure, for people that want to pay 5$ more for every transaction. Probably a good number of people don't.
  - Vegenoid 3y ago
    Where I’ve been, they round up to the nearest multiple of 5, and the extra you pay is kept as credit on your account towards future purchases.
    - filoleg 3y ago
      I’ve seen the rounding up situation a lot, but I am yet to see one where they just didnt give you back the rest as cash change.
    - millzlane 3y ago
      That's kinda shitty. They just give us the 5 back cash.
- bobthepanda 3y ago
  Maybe this is a state by state thing? I have never observed this in WA.
  - filoleg 3y ago
    It feels like it is a state-by-state thing, yeah. I moved from WA to NYC just half a year ago, and I noticed it as well. In WA, it felt like it was a pretty even 50/50 split (maybe with a heavier lean towards cash) between places accepting cash-only and those that accept debit as well (in addition to cash obviously). I dont remember any that accepted credit cards. All of this is a more recent situation though, as I still remember that just 6-8 years ago, pretty much every single place used to be cash-only. I also noticed some dispensaries experimenting with rather unconvential methods at different points in time too (e.g., Uncle Ike’s using a payment terminal for like a year that worked similarly to a regular debit card one, but it was using crypto as an intermediate medium on the backend to process the payment). In NYC, it feels like everyone just accepts cards like usual, from grey-market ones to the legal ones. However, I infinitely prefer the WA situation with cannabis over the NYC one for bajillion other reasons that are entirely unrelated to payment methods.
mattmaroon 3y ago
My brother supervises at a dispensary. They are not attractive robbery targets at all. They have a lot of security. Like a bank, they expect the amount of cash would bring trouble if they were not prepared. Unlike a bank, they don't dispense much cash (just petty change) so they don't even have to leave much in the drawers, which are emptied frequently and dropped into a safe nobody there can access. They have cash-handling processes similar to a casino, but again, they have much less than a casino or bank to take. Employee theft is a much bigger problem than robbery, because you can imagine who works at them, but even then, it's hard to get away with. You'd be much better off robbing a busy gas station or the like.
- flawsofar 3y ago
  > you can imagine who works at them This is disgracefully elitist. White collar crime hurts more people.
  - Spivak 3y ago
    Golden rule of customer service is you can not demand service while simultaneously degrading the people who provide it to you.
  - mattmaroon 3y ago
    I see why you would say that, but you probably have not met very many people who work at a dispensary, I have. My brother got promoted to supervisor in a month for the simple reason that he is the only person who could wait until after work to get high. He’s told me quite a bit of what goes on there, and I am sure different dispensaries are different, but in any state where it is relatively recently legalized and there aren’t that many, it’s just the biggest stoners working there. You would have to be kind of special to decide to steal things with that much security around, they always get caught
    - flawsofar 3y ago
      I as a customer an hour ago had a long conversation with a friend I made behind the counter. Some software engineers do partake of the weed. So yeah I’ve met them. Tattoos, piercings? They’re just people. Getting high isn’t a sign of larceny
leptons 3y ago
> the primary problem is that weed shops are incredibly attractive robbery targets due to being one of the few businesses in 2024 that handle large amounts of cash. It's also the product that's the target much of the time - it's got no serial numbers and it's light-weight, and easy to resell.

CydeWeys 3y ago

I think the ATM isn't actually dispensing cash. You're doing an ATM transaction for a certain amount of money, but what you're actually getting is weed. It's not just "You can buy with cash, and we conveniently have an ATM available to get cash if you didn't go to your bank."

mikestew 3y ago
It's not just "You can buy with cash, and we conveniently have an ATM available to get cash if you didn't go to your bank." I have heard from a very reliable source that the ATMs in most weed shops on the Eastside of Seattle dispense cash because you're going to be required to pay with cash at the counter. There are allegedly a few exceptions, but the majority of shops accept only cash and the ATM dispenses bills.
- hughesjj 3y ago
  Out of the 15+ SWIM has been to in WA state, SWIM has never seen a dispensary take anything but physical cash (bills and coins).
14u2c 3y ago
Nope, it's just a regular ATM operated by a 3rd party company. You get cash from it then give them the cash. The store will also often reimburse for the ATM fee.
- CydeWeys 3y ago
  Nope, see other comments. My interpretation is correct.

filoleg 3y ago

Often enough, it isn’t an actual ATM. You pay at the counter like you usually would using a card or an NFC payment method (e.g., Apple Pay), but the payment reader processes it as an ATM withdrawal transaction (hence an extra transaction fee of a few dollars). There is no physical cash involved at any point in this (at least not on the dispensary premises).

BobaFloutist 3y ago
Sure, for people that want to pay 5$ more for every transaction. Probably a good number of people don't.
- Vegenoid 3y ago
  Where I’ve been, they round up to the nearest multiple of 5, and the extra you pay is kept as credit on your account towards future purchases.
  - filoleg 3y ago
    I’ve seen the rounding up situation a lot, but I am yet to see one where they just didnt give you back the rest as cash change.
  - millzlane 3y ago
    That's kinda shitty. They just give us the 5 back cash.
bobthepanda 3y ago
Maybe this is a state by state thing? I have never observed this in WA.
- filoleg 3y ago
  It feels like it is a state-by-state thing, yeah. I moved from WA to NYC just half a year ago, and I noticed it as well. In WA, it felt like it was a pretty even 50/50 split (maybe with a heavier lean towards cash) between places accepting cash-only and those that accept debit as well (in addition to cash obviously). I dont remember any that accepted credit cards. All of this is a more recent situation though, as I still remember that just 6-8 years ago, pretty much every single place used to be cash-only. I also noticed some dispensaries experimenting with rather unconvential methods at different points in time too (e.g., Uncle Ike’s using a payment terminal for like a year that worked similarly to a regular debit card one, but it was using crypto as an intermediate medium on the backend to process the payment). In NYC, it feels like everyone just accepts cards like usual, from grey-market ones to the legal ones. However, I infinitely prefer the WA situation with cannabis over the NYC one for bajillion other reasons that are entirely unrelated to payment methods.

mattmaroon 3y ago

My brother supervises at a dispensary. They are not attractive robbery targets at all. They have a lot of security. Like a bank, they expect the amount of cash would bring trouble if they were not prepared. Unlike a bank, they don't dispense much cash (just petty change) so they don't even have to leave much in the drawers, which are emptied frequently and dropped into a safe nobody there can access. They have cash-handling processes similar to a casino, but again, they have much less than a casino or bank to take. Employee theft is a much bigger problem than robbery, because you can imagine who works at them, but even then, it's hard to get away with. You'd be much better off robbing a busy gas station or the like.

flawsofar 3y ago
> you can imagine who works at them This is disgracefully elitist. White collar crime hurts more people.
- Spivak 3y ago
  Golden rule of customer service is you can not demand service while simultaneously degrading the people who provide it to you.
- mattmaroon 3y ago
  I see why you would say that, but you probably have not met very many people who work at a dispensary, I have. My brother got promoted to supervisor in a month for the simple reason that he is the only person who could wait until after work to get high. He’s told me quite a bit of what goes on there, and I am sure different dispensaries are different, but in any state where it is relatively recently legalized and there aren’t that many, it’s just the biggest stoners working there. You would have to be kind of special to decide to steal things with that much security around, they always get caught
  - flawsofar 3y ago
    I as a customer an hour ago had a long conversation with a friend I made behind the counter. Some software engineers do partake of the weed. So yeah I’ve met them. Tattoos, piercings? They’re just people. Getting high isn’t a sign of larceny

leptons 3y ago

> the primary problem is that weed shops are incredibly attractive robbery targets due to being one of the few businesses in 2024 that handle large amounts of cash. It's also the product that's the target much of the time - it's got no serial numbers and it's light-weight, and easy to resell.